A kind of perfection
In later cartoons Donald would have flesh-and-blood antagonists; here he
has nothing to fight, nothing to get mad at, but a punctured tyre. In the 1930s his efforts to repair it would have made up roughly one-third of a larger Mickey/Donald/Goofy enterprise; here, it\'s the whole show. This is one aspect of Donald\'s routine reduced to its minimal essence. Never before, and never again, would he be required to do so much with so little. He carries it off magnificently. One of Donald\'s trademarks is that, although he\'s always talking, we have to strain to understand a single word he says (I love the way Clarence Nash lapses into comprehensibility and out again as the occasion requires), which makes him an excellent silent comedian, and this is inspired silent comedy. I don\'t know how many times you\'d have to watch it before it ceased altogether to be funny, and even then it would have a kind of beauty. Released early in January 1943 and probably made the previous year, one aspect of the visual style has dated - Disney\'s effects department cannot, at this stage, make Donald\'s car blur as it should as it zooms through the countryside. This means that approximately ten seconds of footage are less than perfect. That\'s about all.. A kind of perfection
In later cartoons Donald would have flesh-and-blood antagonists; here he
has nothing to fight, nothing to get mad at, but a punctured tyre. In the 1930s his efforts to repair it would have made up roughly one-third of a larger Mickey/Donald/Goofy enterprise; here, it's the whole show. This is one aspect of Donald's routine reduced to its minimal essence. Never before, and never again, would he be required to do so much with so little. He carries it off magnificently. One of Donald's trademarks is that, although he's always talking, we have to strain to understand a single word he says (I love the way Clarence Nash lapses into comprehensibility and out again as the occasion requires), which makes him an excellent silent comedian, and this is inspired silent comedy. I don't know how many times you'd have to watch it before it ceased altogether to be funny, and even then it would have a kind of beauty. Released early in January 1943 and probably made the previous year, one aspect of the visual style has dated - Disney's effects department cannot, at this stage, make Donald's car blur as it should as it zooms through the countryside. This means that approximately ten seconds of footage are less than perfect. That's about all.. |
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